


i want to wear her initial on a chain 'round my neck (not because she owns me, but 'cause she really knows me)

by siimplyviibiing (llostt_in_ttranslationn)



Category: Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, actually another good relationship pairing for this is john stevens/PRISON, basically just means fck john stevens, it's not major just thought i'd include it as a warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llostt_in_ttranslationn/pseuds/siimplyviibiing
Summary: Sterling and April are forced to spend the night together for Hannah B.'s birthday sleepover. Blair does most of the forcing.(title from "call it what you want" by taylor swift)
Relationships: April Stevens/Sterling Wesley, Blair Wesley/Hannah B.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 329





	1. july

**Author's Note:**

> the title will make more sense in the next part ;)

It’s July when Sterling talks to April for the first time since the night of the lock-in. They’ve briefly interacted at school during the past few months, mostly at the direct prompting of Ellen, but other than a few tense words here and there, the two of them don’t have a single conversation that’s not school-related for the entire rest of junior year.

To be quite honest, April breaking her heart has been the least of Sterling’s worries. Finding out your parents aren't really your parents and your twin sister is actually your cousin and your birth mom is a total psycho kinda outweighs less than a month of dating coming to a crashing end.

Sterling’s recently acquired therapist tells her that she’s compartmentalizing her feelings about the “breakup” instead of processing them, and Sterling laughs bitterly at the older woman’s words, because April is the one that taught Sterling about compartmentalization in the first place. 

Blair becomes friends with Hannah B. during the two weeks of school that Sterling misses after being kidnapped. They got assigned as partners for a project in health class, Blair had explained to Sterling when she returned home from Willingham the Tuesday after the lock-in. Graciously, she goes to Hannah’s house after school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to work on the project instead of inviting the other brunette to the Wesley residence. When Blair gets home from Hannah’s house Saturday evening after having spent the whole afternoon with the other girl, Sterling asks if _“y’all’re friends now, or somethin’?”_ and Blair shrugs, but the huge grin on her face when she mumbles a _“yeah, I guess we kinda are,”_ totally counteracts her attempt at being nonchalant. 

Sterling feels like she should be more jealous of how close Hannah B. and Blair get in such a short amount of time. A few months ago, she probably would have. Instead, she finds herself being glad that Blair has someone to be around who isn’t such a fucking mess, unlike Sterling, who hasn’t brushed her hair in weeks and showers half as often as she used to. Besides, on the rare occasion that Hannah B. comes over to the Wesleys' house, Sterling finds herself befriending the brunette, as well. And who could really hate someone as sweet as Hannah B., anyways?

If the question was _Who could scream at Hannah B. for sitting with the Wesley girls at lunch one single time?_ then the answer would be: April Stevens. Sterling doesn’t enjoy the five minute rant April loudly gives Hannah B. before an after school Fellowship meeting the day that Hannah B. doesn’t sit with April and Ezekiel at lunch. Neither does Hannah B., if her tear-filled eyes are anything to go by. Blair nearly smacks April in the face that afternoon, though Ellen walks into the room just in time to halt the fight that she didn’t even know was about to occur. The next day, April comes to school with homemade blueberry muffins for Hannah B. and all seems to be forgiven.

Sterling is fairly certain Mr. Stevens has told his daughter about the fact that the Wesley girls had him re-arrested when one day April’s longing stares turn back into hateful glares, and she’s all stomping heels and slamming lockers and snapping pencils in half. April doesn’t say anything to or about the twins, though, so Sterling can’t be sure. 

News breaks about a month later that John Stevens has been arrested _again_ , for domestic violence charges, and April is absent from school for about as long as Sterling was when she was recovering from being kidnapped. When April returns, Sterling hears that she has quit the Young Republicans Club and the Straight-Straight Alliance, though April herself never speaks on either resignation. She hardly speaks at all, Sterling observes from a distance. And not for the first time, she considers reaching out to April, to check in on her. But Hannah B. informs the twins one evening after spending the afternoon doing homework with them, that April actually seems happier than usual these days, despite her relative reserved-ness at school. 

And so Sterling lets the silence between them stretch on, doing what Blair says is “pining” but Sterling describes as “having a justifiable amount of concern and curiosity about an old friend” which basically means she is constantly looking(read: staring) at April whenever the other girl is in the same general vicinity. 

If it bothers the shorter girl in any way, she doesn’t say anything about it. Then again, she doesn’t really say much of anything to Sterling these days anyways, good or bad.

Which means in order to get information about Mr. Stevens’s incarceration status, Sterling must go to either Hannah B. or Bowser. Most of the time, she chooses to pester her boss to dig up information on it. Bowser tells her that “allegedly” Mr. Stevens has been abusive towards his wife for years, but the final straw for Mrs. Stevens was coming home from the grocery store to find her husband wailing on their 12-year-old son, all because the boy had tried to defend April when John had originally attempted to give her a beating for “something homosexual” that he discovered in her laptop’s search history. According to Bowser’s sources, John Stevens was sentenced to three years in prison, and April’s brother spent a week in the hospital with a punctured lung and fractured ribs. April had received a hard punch to the head that left her with a black eye and an inconclusive concussion test, which was the reason she was out of school for so long afterwards.

Sterling fumes for _days_ after learning that information. Blair has to physically restrain her from running up to April the next day at school, because the events had occurred over two months ago and bringing them up again wouldn’t do anybody any good. 

After that, the rest of the school year passes quite quickly, and with minimal excitement, except for April getting a 1540 on her SAT and Sterling falling just behind with a 1520. Sterling categorizes that as “exciting” because when they get the results back, April turns to her and smirks with a “better luck next time, loser.” And though it’s an insult, Sterling beams in return, because _April made eye contact and spoke words to her!_

Which brings them to July. It’s Hannah B.’s seventeenth birthday and her parents have told her she can spend the day _any way she wants_. So, Hannah B. invites her “five bestest friends!!!” —April, Ezekiel, Blair, Sterling, and Luke— over for a High School Musical marathon and sleepover (her parents relent to the boys staying the night, but they have to sleep in the downstairs guest room while the girls stay upstairs in Hannah B.’s room).

Sterling tries for a half hour to convince Blair to let her pretend to be sick so that she doesn’t have to have a mini-redo of the dreaded lock-in. Blair tells her she will shave off Sterling’s eyebrows in her sleep if she even considers continuing to contemplate doing something that would make Hannah B. sad on her birthday, and Sterling’s retort of “damn, why are you so intent on making her day so perfect, what is she, your girlfriend or something?” is met not with a laugh as she had intended, but just a few slow blinks from Blair and a demand of packing her overnight bag faster so they aren’t late.

And so, it’s July when Sterling talks to April for the first time since the night of the lock-in.


	2. imagine if people simply communicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's gonna be four parts now because my brain simply would not shut up with ideas and this part was getting too long so i had to break it up into two. all this gay pining really uses a lot of words.

Sterling’s not sure why Hannah B.’s birthday wishes for age seventeen aren’t more mature than a High School Musical marathon, but Blair glares at her in the car on the drive there when she brings it up, so Sterling doesn’t ask again.

They get to Hannah B’s house after Ezekiel but before Luke (who probably lost his watch again and didn’t realize the time) and April (who will be a tad late because she has to pick her brother up from soccer practice, or so Ezekiel explains when the twins arrive). 

Hannah B. immediately drags Blair out of the living room to “help her grab that thing from that place” and so Sterling sits awkwardly on the couch and plays Tetris on her phone while Ezekiel sits on the chaise longue by the window trying to find the best angle for a selfie in the late afternoon sun that’s streaming in. 

“April’s here!” Ezekiel calls out suddenly, startling Sterling and causing her to misplace a block in her game. With a sigh, Sterling slips her phone into the pocket of her shorts and takes a deep breath as Ezekiel scurries to the front door and swings it open, waiting for April to climb up the porch steps and enter the house.

“Sorry I’m late!” Sterling hears April say in a breathless tone. “My mother had an emergency meeting with her lawyer so I had to go pick Caleb up from his practice halfway across town and drive him back home before I could come.”

“Luke hasn’t shown up yet, so you’re not the last to arrive, don’t worry.”

Sterling turns to face the doorway of the room when she doesn’t hear a response from April to Ezekiel’s words.

Sterling’s gaze finds April’s easily, as the other girl is already staring right at her.

“H-hi April!” Sterling manages to squeak out with an embarrassingly exaggerated wave.

“Hi, Sterling,” April replies tightly.

Ezekiel looks between the two girls suspiciously, and then dramatically rolls his eyes when neither of them speak again.

He’s about to break the semi-awkward silence when the doorbell rings.

“I’LL GET IT!” 

Hannah B. comes sprinting through, zooming past the trio in the living room in order to get to the front door.

Blair trails in a few moments later, at a much more laid-back pace. She plops down on the couch next to Sterling, glancing at Ezekiel and April. “‘sup.”

“Hello, Blair,” April greets the brunette twin just as tensely as she had greeted Sterling.

“Now that everybody’s here we can go down to the den!” Hannah B. announces as she and Luke enter the room.

Blair hops up eagerly. “Great idea, Han.”

Hannah B. beams, and Sterling, not for the first time, feels like she is missing a huge chunk of information about the dynamic of her sister’s friendship with Hannah B.

Nevertheless, she allows Blair to drag her down the stairs into the furnished basement, which looks less sterile and more lived-in than the upstairs living room, which eases Sterling's nerves just slightly.

Sterling finds herself seated between April and Luke, thanks to Blair shoving her down onto the couch and rushing to beat Ezekiel to the spot next to Hannah B. on one of the loveseats, which sends Sterling's anxiety skyrocketing once again.

Even with plenty of room on the couch, Sterling feels suffocated. She’s conscious of her every move, and she _knows_ she’s being incredibly fidgety all throughout the first High School Musical movie, but she’s hyper-aware of April sitting stiffly to her right, and Luke encroaching on her personal space on her left.

_“Stop moving!”_ April hisses at Sterling towards the end of the film.

Sterling chokes back a squeak of shock, not expecting April to say anything to her.

“Sorry!” Sterling whispers back loudly.

Sterling can’t see April’s face very well, but she doesn’t miss the smaller girl’s eye roll. She also _feels_ April shift closer to her. 

“Is Luke crowding you?” April asks in a hushed tone, speaking almost directly into Sterling’s ear.

Sterling shivers, resisting turning towards April, knowing that they would be face-to-face if she did, and not being able to handle that closeness. “A little.”

April hums quietly in response, and Sterling thinks the interaction ends there.

Until a few moments later when Sterling feels April’s arm slip between her back and the couch, tugging gently to reposition Sterling so the taller blonde is tucked into her side.

Sterling holds her breath. “April?” she murmurs in confusion.

“Shh,” April warns her. “Watch the movie, Sterl.”

Sterling wonders if it’s her heart that she can feel pounding against her ribs, or if it’s April’s from where they’re pressed together. _Probably both_ , she thinks.

And she’s so confused, because April hasn’t made any physical contact with her in months. Maybe she was emboldened by the darkness of the room, or the lack of judgmental occupants. Sterling would question it, but April is warm and her shirt is soft and she smells like citrus and flowers and Sterling has suddenly missed the last fifteen minutes of the movie.

But then the credits are rolling and April is subtly but swiftly shoving Sterling back into her original position and Hannah B. is turning the lights on.

Sterling blinks at the harsh transition, both from dark to light, and the coldness she feels sitting on her own again. She glances at April, but the other girl isn’t looking at her.

“Anyone need a bathroom break or more snacks before we start the second movie?” Hannah B. asks.

Sterling doesn’t need to use the bathroom, but she jumps up and says she does, just for an excuse to leave the room for a moment or two.

She stares at herself in the bathroom mirror for several minutes, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. Maybe she fell asleep during the film and this is all some elaborate dream. A quick pinch to her arm seems to debunk that theory, though.

So after splashing some cold water on her face, Sterling returns to the den where everyone else is seemingly waiting for her.

Except, now Ezekiel is on the couch with Luke, and April sits casually on the second loveseat, where Ezekiel had been during the first movie.

“April said I crunch too loud on my popcorn,” Luke explains when he sees Sterling standing frozen.

“You also take up too much room!” Ezekiel gives the taller boy a nudge. “Ever heard of personal space, buddy?”

Luke pouts, but scoots over so he is at one edge of the couch, and Ezekiel is at the other. “You should probably sit with April. Zeke is grumpy tonight.”

“Um- okay,” Sterling agrees dumbly, ignoring the questioning look Blair is shooting at her from across the room, because honestly, Sterling doesn’t know what the fuck is going on tonight either.

April avoids Sterling’s gaze with practiced indifference as the taller girl gracelessly sits down next to her.

Just like the flip of the light switch bathing the room in darkness except for the glow of the television, April seems to flip a switch of her own once it’s dark.

As soon as the movie is playing, and everyone is distracted by the first song, Sterling feels April’s warm hand boldly reach out for her own two, resting on her lap, and suddenly April’s hand is sandwiched between both of Sterling’s, but when Sterling turns to look at April, the other girl has her eyes fixated on the TV, as if she’s not spent the past half hour confusing the fuck out of Sterling.

“Oh my gosh! I would just _die_ if someone gave me a necklace with their initial on it!” Hannah B. squeals out as Troy is doing exactly that in the film. 

“Me, too, Hannah B.” April agrees quietly.

And if Sterling’s hands weren’t currently occupied, she’d reach up and feel the necklace she is currently wearing, it’s her favorite of all the ones she has, probably, the dainty chain and cute little “S” charm that her parents had gotten her for Christmas a few years ago. Now she’s imagining it around April’s neck instead of her own, wondering what it would be like to see it resting on April’s collarbone, to see her initial displayed proudly on April’s chest for everyone to see. 

That’s what crumbles the fantasy, really, because even if she and April were still together, hell would freeze over before the shorter girl _ever_ even considered doing something as bold as walking around with another girl’s initial around her neck.

With that thought fresh in her head, Sterling gently grasps April’s hand and removes it from her lap, returning it to the other girl’s own. She doesn’t know what April’s playing at right now, but she does know that she has to at least _try_ to protect her heart right now, because April had made it very clear all those months ago at the lock-in that she and Sterling couldn’t be together, and though so much has changed since then, Sterling doubts April's opinion on that has changed at all.

This time, Sterling is the one with her eyes glued to the screen, not looking at the girl she’s sharing the loveseat with, and so she misses the way that April’s face falls at the clear rejection, and she misses the way a tear falls from April’s eye, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can y'all guess how this night is gonna end?? probably not ;) talk to me on twitter @ siimplyviibiing


	3. communication ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a little longer to get done than i thought because of the news :( but i'm not going to stop fighting for our show, and you guys shouldn't either. hopefully this chapter brings a little happiness.

The remainder of High School Musical 2 and all of High School Musical 3 pass without any words or touches occurring between Sterling and April.

“Ooh! Should we play truth-or-dare or spin-the-bottle now?” Hannah B. suggests after turning the lights on once more.

“Uh, I don’t think we have enough boys for that, Hannah,” Luke says.

“Girls can kiss girls too, Luke!” Blair informs him in her usual aggressively passionate manner..

Luke stares at her with wide eyes, “I know that! One of my cousins down in Florida is a homosexual! She told me about how one time she saw a cop shoot a horse at one of those gay parades. Wait, am I allowed to say  _ gay _ or can only homosexuals do that?”

“Gay isn’t a slur, Luke, don’t worry,” Ezekiel pats the boy on the knee in a slightly condescending, slightly reassuring manner. “You can say it as long as you aren’t using it in a negative or insulting way.”

“Oh, good… Slurs are a bad thing, right?” 

Sterling smiles, because of course goofy, sweet Luke would have no problem with gay people despite probably hearing mostly bad things about it throughout his upbringing.

Sterling can see April squirming in her peripheral vision, probably at the current topic of conversation, and as much as she wishes she could be indifferent about the girl, it still breaks her heart to see how much April is impacted by even the slightest mention of homosexuality, probably worried that someone will ask her views on the subject and she'll be forced to decide between telling the truth or lying to protect herself and her image.

“My dad hates gay people,” April tells them quietly after a few moments of silence.

“Well on behalf of gay people everywhere, we hate your dad, too!” Ezekiel says.

“You’re gay?” Luke turns to Ezekiel with a bewildered look, and the other boy simply nods. “Oh, nice,” Luke stretches out an arm and offers a hand for a high-five. “I’m not really sure what people normally say to that,” he admits. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a gay person other than my cousin and her wife.”

Ezekiel accepts the high-five with a quick tap of his palm to Luke’s. “I guarantee that you have, even before just now.”

“They say one in every ten people is gay these days,” Hannah B. chips in. “And that means there’s like 40 gay people at Willingham since there’s roughly 400 students.”

“You’re so good at math, Han,” Blair praises.

“I can teach you about things like the sum of you plus me, if you’d like,” Hannah B. gives Blair a dopey grin and an over-exaggerated blink that Sterling can tell was probably supposed to be a wink.

“Um, anyways,” Ezekiel raises his eyebrows at the two brunettes. “Maybe we skip the party games for tonight and you can open your presents, Hannah B., and then we can call it a night? I need my beauty sleep and we all know how cranky April gets if she is denied her full eight hours!”

“Hey!” April protests.

“He’s not wrong. You were so mean the morning after the lock-in, don’t you remember?” Luke says.

Sterling blinks harshly at the mention of the lock-in and the events that transpired. She’s pretty certain April’s moodiness had very little to do with the amount of sleep she had gotten that night.

“Well maybe you were just being extra annoying and I finally couldn’t deal with it any longer!” April snaps back. Then, she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. After a long inhale, she plasters on a placating smile. “Sorry, Luke. That was uncalled for and rude of me. Ironically, it’s probably because I’m tired. Do you forgive me?”

“Uh…” Luke gulps. “Sure, April.”

“Okay, presents!” Blair announces before any more dramatics can occur.

Sterling doesn’t pay much attention to Hannah B. while she’s opening her gifts. Instead, she watches April out of the corner of her eye.

April, who is back to sitting stiffly and staring straight ahead, just like at the start of the first movie.

Sterling is so confused, still. She doesn’t understand why April is being so hot-and-cold. It’s like the shorter girl  _ wants  _ to stop being such a bitch, but doesn’t know how. Which Sterling  _ knows _ is bullshit, because during their short-lived pseudo-relationship (at least when they were alone), April had been incredibly sweet, so it’s not like she’s incapable of it. And thus, Sterling doesn’t know what the hell is going on with April tonight.

All too soon, Hannah B. has finished opening all her presents, and now everyone is going upstairs; Luke and Ezekiel to the guest room on the main floor, and the girls to Hannah’s room on the second floor. 

And that’s when Sterling learns that Hannah B. has a set of Full-mattress bunk-beds in her room. And that the plan is for two of them to sleep on each bed. And that Blair plans to sleep up top with Hannah, leaving Sterling to share the bottom bunk with  _ April _ . 

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot my phone downstairs!” Hannah B. announces after each of the girls has had time to change into their pajamas in the adjoined bathroom. “Blair, will you  _ please  _ come with me to get it? I don’t like being downstairs by myself.”

Sterling kind of expects Blair to just laugh and tell Hannah B. to suck it up and go on her own, but the brunette twin just stares at Hannah with a soft expression for moment and then nods in agreement. 

“Be right back!” Hannah B. says to Sterling and April, before dragging Blair out of the room, both of them giggling. 

“Sterl, can we talk for a minute?”

Sterling, torn between saying no and agreeing eagerly, sighs and nods. 

April pats the space next to her on the bed, encouraging Sterling to join her there. She does, hesitantly.

“I want to clear up a few things,” April tells her. “I know you and your sister had some involvement in my father’s original arrest-”

“April, I-”

“No, just let me speak for a second, okay?” April reaches out and places a hand on top of Sterling’s, and the taller girl nods again. “I’d like you —and Blair— to know that while I was mad when I first found out, I hold no anger or resentment towards you over that anymore. Not since… Not since his most recent arrest. I don’t really know  _ how  _ you two got yourselves involved in the situation where you’d be bringing in a fugitive, but that’s besides the point, honestly.”

“It’s a long story,” Sterling shrugs.

“I’d also like to… apologize… to you, Sterling. For how I behaved at the lock-in. It wasn’t very mature of me to act the way I did, but you have to understand how scared I was, especially knowing what you do about my father, and how he reacted when he found out that I’m a lesbian, which, might I add, is  _ exactly _ how I told you he would,” April says.

“Well, actually, you never said anything about him being violent,” Sterling points out.

“He assaulted a prostitute, Sterling, I thought you knew he’d react violently!”

“I wouldn’t have pushed you to come out if I knew he would try to hurt you!”

April flinches at Sterling’s sharp tone, and Sterling sighs.

“Sorry. This isn’t something we need to be fighting about. I also wanna apologize. Because I shouldn’t have pushed you to come out, regardless. I was just  _ so excited  _ about discovering that new part of me, and I wanted to share it with everybody. Which wasn’t fair to you, and I should’ve listened to your fears. You should know, April, that had you just  _ asked _ , I would’ve agreed in a heartbeat to keeping it just to us… Well, I probably still would have told Blair, but I would have kept it quiet from everyone else for as long as you needed.”

“You deserved more than that, Sterling. You  _ deserve _ someone who will shout from the rooftops how much they love you.”

“I had that, with Luke,” Sterling shrugs. “But all I wanted in that moment was  _ you _ , April. I just wanted you to sleep next to me and hold my hand at the lock-in.”

“Well, look where we are now,” April chuckles, with little humor. She nods at her hand resting on Sterling’s, and uses her other one to pat the bed that they are about to share for the night.

“ _ April _ ,” Sterling says with a quiet desperation. “I know you said maybe someday and I know I said that I didn’t know about that but what I really don’t know is what you were doing tonight, during the movies? Holding my hand? Holding  _ me _ ? That was very confusing, especially since we’ve barely spoken in months.”

“Sterling, I-”

“Bedtime!” Hannah B. practically shouts as she and Blair barge back into the room.

Sterling wants to slam her head against the wall until it explodes, because her whole body feels like it’s about to implode with April’s explanation being interrupted. She sends a glare at Blair, who is blissfully unaware of what she and Hannah B. had just walked in on.

April sighs. “Actually, I think I need a glass of water before I sleep. Sterling, you’re thirsty too, right?” 

Sterling snaps her head towards April’s impressively calm and controlled tone, but her eyes tell a different story, practically daring Sterling to say no to her excuse for them leaving the room. “Um, yeah, we’ll be right back, guys. Wouldn’t wanna go to bed dehydrated.”

“Okay!” Hannah B. smiles brightly, already climbing up into the top bunk.

April stands, gently but quickly guiding Sterling out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen, where she goes about filling two glasses with water from the dispenser in the fridge. 

Sterling shifts her weight nervously from foot to foot as April sets the cups down on the counter, waiting for the shorter girl to speak.

“My family knows I’m gay, Sterling.”

“I know,” Sterling says. “I know the reason your dad was arrested again, April. I know what he did and why he did it.”

“My mom was shocked, but she’s come to peace with it, now that my father is gone and she can think for herself for the first time in twenty years. She’s less bigoted than I had thought. I think she was just so upset at what my father did to Cal and I, that she felt like she had no option other than to accept that I like girls and that that's not going to change. I think Cal said something to her, to convince her to be relatively okay with it. I don’t know, but that’s not the point,” April sighs, trying to gather her thoughts.

Sterling keeps quiet, allowing April to have as much time as she needs, because Sterling can tell she’s about to say something important.

“I’m applying to Harvard this winter, for next fall. Rumor has it, you are, too?” 

Sterling nods slowly. “Yeah. I am.”

“Sterling, I can’t make many promises about the future, and I’m not ready to come out to our classmates or our church, but I… I want us to have a someday, Sterl. I want there to  _ be _ an ‘us’ someday. I don’t know what’s going to happen senior year, or where either of us will be next fall. But I don’t want to go back to us barely speaking. Sterling, I-”

And this time, April’s words are interrupted by Sterling’s lips. And maybe Hannah B.’s barely illuminated kitchen isn’t the most romantic place, and there’s six people who could potentially walk in on them kissing by the kitchen counter, but neither girl really cares at that moment about any of those things.

Sterling pulls away, just enough to look into April’s eyes, so full of hope and  _ love _ . “April, all I need is you. Tonight, this summer, next fall. In any capacity, for as long as you’ll put up with me. We’ll go at your pace this time, okay? I promise.”

April beams. “Let’s start with holding hands and sleeping next to each other tonight, then?”

Sterling presses another long kiss to April’s lips. “Perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last part of this will be their "maybe someday" that everyone deserves. i'm on twitter @ siimplyviibiing

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @ siimplyviibiing to scream about stepril and teenage bounty hunters.


End file.
